Wednesday, August 17, 2011

S'up in the Garden?

Thanks to my little Sisty, Barb, for the idea of attaching cd's to the fencing for deer repellents. They swing and shine in the sun keeping away predators...maybe even birds; I'm not sure. We will not turn on the electric fence this year. Everything is producing now, although nothing is ripening all that well. Our nights are already cooling down to as low as 48 degrees, and the days this last week haven't been all that warm... in the low 70's. The watering system didn't work well in my absence this summer, so the potatoes and tomatoes didn't get their fair share with the broken line. Blossom end rot has taken a few tomatoes, and the potatoes began dying earlier than should have been expected.
The greens have FINALLY taken off and produced great quantities. Lettuce is finished, and the chard and kale are wonderful!

There IS a blossom on this eggplant, not that it will ever ripen and be harvestable.

When I lived in The Dalles I had three plants from which I harvested 18 large eggplants! The recipe in Laurel's Kitchen for Eggplant Pasta Sauce is my favorite, and I made a lot of it that year for the freezer...none this year, sadly.

There are only a few of these Amish Paste Tomatoes.

And I have many of these lovely "Connie's Dad's" Winter Squashes.

Only 36 pounds of potatoes were harvested from my 25 plants. I expected at least 50 pounds, and we had great potato-growing weather. Crop failure due to watering issues is heart-breaking.

What to do with those Zucchini Boats?

I grind them into relish using a pickle relish recipe. We like this in tuna for sandwiches, in home-made Thousand Island dressing, and in potato salad. Cucumbers are always an issue to get for me, but zucchinis are not!

That's S'up in the garden!

Little time is left here in the mountains of wild Idaho for anything to happen, and the wet and cool spring made warming the soil an issue. This is the third year in a row for very challenging gardening weather. I'm grateful for the lack of bugs!